CoCy, the brainchild of Robert Nightingale & Adrian Weidmann, is an ingenious smart-service concept that aims to provide users with free transportation & local, ethical, & sustainable businesses with a creative platform to advertise. The lightweight cycles incorporate a gang of innovative features that make locating, reserving, & operating the bike a super easy process for locals & visitors alike. A great system that also has potential to create revenue for both local organizations & international charities.

Bikes are locked into a solar powered bluetooth docking station until the user activates the release via their smartphone or enters an online generated code. Smartphone applications would enable users to locate docking stations rapidly & make reservations in a snap. After use, the user can return the cycle to any docking station which can be geo-located on the bike’s own visual interface. The user then simply slips the bike into the dock, waits for the “click” & walks away.

The “blank slate” design & interchangeable advertising unit on each bike gives businesses plenty of room to showcase their advertisements & allows campaigns to change regularly. Additional revenue is created by charging the user a small fee after the first free 30 minutes, ensuring the longevity of the service.

Well eventually everybody will leave his car in the garage because the petrol prices and its availability will left no choice but to use such cycles. I bet their will be a time when we can show off our cycles to the person who has expensive car but of no use.

the basket doesn’t look large enough to fit my wife’s purse and the fork design is unlike anything on the market. It would be much easier and more cost effective to work with standard components, it is a bicycle after all. Also, since this is a bike for all people, the seat needs to be easily adjustable (says adjustable, but don’t see how it works)… Aside from those design issues, the concept is good. I like the advertisement space on the sides of the bike the most.

Bixi has already solved this problem admirably and is already available in London (as well as Toronto, Montreal, Washington DC and a bunch of other cities). http://www.bixi.com.

Bixi has solved the problem of bike non-return through requirement of a credit card or registration for a fob with a credit card. This ensures that users that don’t return bikes are appropriately penalized, and increases accuracy of user identification. It’s unclear that the concept presented above has solved the problem.

To an earlier comment, Bixi went with custom-design as well, to maximize longevity, vandal-proofing and theft-proofing.

Finally, Bixi is also solar powered, but does it with one solar panel on top of the kiosk payment point attached to a rack, rather than small panels on the individual racks. The racks are joined and provide a hard-locking mechanism to secure the Bixi.

COCY is interesting, but not an apparent improvement on the BIXI model.